The Deck of Rogues: Fool's Valentine
by SkyLarkTurner
Summary: Joker, Harley and Vampyra take the time to remember where it all began for their beloved Joker. From the night Jack Napier died to Harely Quinn was found... R&R, please. Part 3, Ace Chemical Factory is up.
1. Jack Napier

**The Deck of Rogues: Fool's Valentine**

**By:** Sky Lark Turner

(A continuation of The Deck of Rogues Series)

**Summary: **It's Valentine's Day! Vampyra, Joker, and Harley take the time to remember where it all began...

**Rated: **T

**Genre: **Suspense and Romance

**Disclaimer:** Joker: I hate Valentine's Day! Everyone is such saps...

Vampyra: Oh, shut up, you're not in charge here!

Joker: Hey! You don't own me!

Vampyra: No, but Warner Brothers and DC Comics does.

Joker: Darn, you're right...

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Chapter 1: Jack Napier

It was the eve before Valentine's Day and all of Arkham was silent. The few high security inmates that currently inhabited the wing were all asleep, except one.

Vampyra was resting on her bunk, staring emptily out the iron barred window. Her black hair fell onto her straightjacketed shoulders. And her ivory skin was pale in the blue moonlight that flowed through the window. The new medication the doctors had given her had deadened her. She could barely fell her legs or her arms wrapped around her in the straightjacket. Her mind's power had disappeared, so she could not even loosen the buckles that bided her. All she could do was think, and remember where it all began…

So many years ago, in another life and on that same night, Victoria Star lounged in the living room of the Star Manor. At her side was an opened wine bottle with only a small amount of its contents left. Her French manicured finger traced the rim of a half-filled wine glass. Golden blonde hair ran down past her bare shoulders and onto a white silk evening slip, and bare feet dangled over the arm of the chair.

Victoria gazed at the ebony grandfather clock. In the darkness, it read two o'clock in the morning. She turned to look at the front door out in the foyer.

The doorknob turned and a man in a dark purple trench coat and hat entered. Quietly, he opened the coat closet on the far wall, next to the door, and hung up his coat. Vivid red hair, neatly combed back, was revealed when he removed his hat.

Victoria silently moved to the edge of the living room, leaning against the door jam. She gazed at the man who was fitting his coat into the closet and waved her hand slowly, as if pushing something out of the way.

A black, handgun and a silencer fell onto the wood floor with a loud bang. Next to it fell a switchblade with a clatter.

The man stiffly leaned down and picked up the gun and knife in one hand. His other was massaging his temple.

"Rough night?" Victoria asked softly.

The man spun to look at Victoria. He had a long tan face with a prominent nose. He looked like a serious businessman, showing little surprise or emotion in his face. "Shouldn't you be asleep?" he asked.

"Shouldn't you have come home for dinner, Jack?" Victoria retorted, folding her arms. And innocent look was plastered on her thin, doll face.

Jack Napier hung his head and said nothing. He had had prior engagements.

"Why do you do this to me?" Victoria sauntered over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. In her bare feet, she was only a few inches shorter than Jack's tall frame.

"You're drunk…" Jack put his hands on her hips.

"So are you…" Victoria gave him a sultry smile and waved a hand at the door, which locked on its own.

"And you haven't taken your medication…" Jack said in response to the locking door.

"I didn't bother to get a refill," she said off hand. "It's not all that bad…"

Jack gave a small smile and ran his hands down Victoria's tan arms. "Will you be my Valentine?"

Victoria leaned back, letting Jack hold her up, and searched the high foyer ceiling for answers. "So you do remember what day it is…" She said, straightening back up.

Jack nodded. "Well?"

Victoria thought about it for a minute. "No more late nights," she replied.

"V!" Jack looked shocked. "I can't just give something like that up! I'm doing this for us…" He stroked Victoria's hair behind her ears sadly.

Victoria's head hung and she placed her forehead on his pointed chin. "I know…"

Jack put two tan fingers under her chin and made Victoria look at him. "It'll be okay," he gave her a warm smile and reached down to pick her thin hourglass frame up into his arms. "Come on it's getting early…"

Victoria hugged his neck tightly, burring her face into his red hair. Deep inside, Victoria knew there was precious little time for the two of them. Perhaps it was the alcohol that prevented her from telling just what might happen. Without a word, she let him carry her upstairs.

Victoria awoke to the late morning sun shining onto her face. Drowsily, she sat up in her king size bed. Next to her, Jack lay sleeping, his bare chest gently rising up and down.

Her head felt as though someone had put it in an invisible vice and began to tighten it. She massaged her temples and squinted at the clock on her nightstand. It read eleven thirty in the morning.

Victoria jumped out of bed and began to pick up the clothes that littered the floor. "Jack! Wake up!"

Jack turned over to sit halfway up in bed. With a sleepy face, he stared at Victoria. "Wow, you look nice for five am…"

Victoria put her clothes filled fist on her hips. "It's eleven thirty. Now, get up or we'll be late!"

Jack ignored her and lay back down, putting a pillow over his head.

"Jack!" Victoria climbed on top of him and pelted him with the dirty clothed. "Up!"

"Alright! Alright!" Jack clambered out from under her fists. "Jeesh, I thought it was Saturday."

"It is but we have pictures today!" Victoria shoved the dirty clothes into Jack's arms and faced him towards the bathroom.

"Aren't people supposed to get their wedding pictures after the wedding?" he looked over his shoulder.

"I told you they're for the invitations!" Victoria smirked and kissed him on the cheek. "Darling…"

Jack rolled his eyes and went to get a shower.

Victoria watched him go, shaking her head. It was hard to believe that they were going to be married in just two weeks.

Jack Napier was sitting in a chair shuffling a deck of playing cards. Victoria was talking with the photographer about the lighting of the picture and how she and Jack would be standing. With a sigh, he randomly pulled a card put of the deck. A smiling jester face gazed back at him and Jack gave a faint smile. Joker, he always loved when he got that wild card in poker.

"Jack?" Victoria fiddled with her small white top hat.

Jack looked up at Victoria in her corseted wedding dress and his smile broadened. Far all her authority and status in society and science, she was still timid and innocent. "Ready?" He set the deck down and took his place next to his bride-to-be.

The photographer snapped the camera around five times and reappeared from behind the lens. "Perfect."

"Done?" Victoria asked from Jack's arm.

"Yup," The photographer pulled the film out of the camera and placed it into a canister.

Jack looked at Victoria. "You made me dress up and come all the way here to take five pictures?"

Victoria gave an innocently embarrassed smile, drawing her shoulders up in a child-like shrug.

Jack frowned and let out a sigh. "Alright… I forgive you…"

Victoria brightened and kissed him on the cheek.

Jack put an arm around her waist. "Let's go home."

Victoria drove back to the Star Manor. Jack lounged next to her in the passenger seat with the window down, letting the wind run through his well-combed hair.

"Nothing like a warm winter day, eh V?" Jack looked over at Victoria and his jaw dropped.

Victoria reclined in her seat, hands behind her head. The steering wheel was turning as if by magic. "Something wrong J?" she asked lightly.

Jack closed and opened his mouth dumbly. "No… Not really…" He went back to looking out the open window.


	2. The Joker

**Chapter 2: The Joker**

The telephone rang in the kitchen. Victoria was making dinner while Jack was playing Solitaire in the den with the television on.

"Hello?" Victoria said putting the receiver to her ear.

"Ah, Victoria!" the voice of Rupert Thorne came over the other end. "It's good to hear you. How's that research coming along?"

Victoria light attitude vanished. Every time she answered the phone when Thorne called he took the opportunity to remind Victoria about their dept to him. "Well, actually, we hope to be able to formulate a full compound by the end of the week." She tried to remain upbeat.

"Good, good," Thorne replied. "I always like to see people live up to their full potential…"

Victoria said nothing. She never wanted to be involved with the likes of Rupert Thorne, but he was the only source of getting some choice supplies for her Jack's research that were illegal in Gotham City. Their means were well, though, a medication that could cure depression and other psychological ailment. However, Thorne's price was more heartbreaking than she could bear.

"Is Jack home?" Thorne asked over the phone.

Victoria's heart sank. "Just a minute." She covered the receiver. "J, telephone," she called to the next room, "It's Mr. Thorne."

She could hear Jack pick up the telephone in the den, "Hello?'

Victoria looked at her covered end of the telephone. It was another job, she was sure of it, but did it have to be on Valentine's Day?

"Where?" came Jack's voice over the phone and Victoria placed the phone to her ear.

"The Ace Chemical Factory, as soon as you can…" Thorne answered.

"I'll be there…" Victoria heard Jack hang up his end and she did the same.

"V?" Jack came into the kitchen, deck in hand.

"Yes?" Victoria turned to him, trying to look as innocent as possible.

"I have to go," he kissed her on the forehead and made his way out into the foyer to the coat closet.

"J?" Victoria followed him trying to keep her worry from showing. Inside, her heart was breaking.

"Yeah?" Jack pulled on his deep purple trench coat, and slipped his gun into the pocket.

"Don't go," she said in earnest, "please."

Jack put his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "I'll be fine. You're just imaging things. Tomorrow we'll go to Arkham and get you some more pills and it will all be alright…" He cupped her chin with a hand, like a father would his daughter.

Victoria was on the verge of tear. Her lower lip quivered trying to contain herself. "Jack… Please…"

Jack gave her a reassuring smile and slipped a card in her hand. Without a word, he placed his hat on his head and went out of the door.

Victoria's head hung. She looked at the playing card in her hand. A grinning Joker face glared up at her. "Jack!" Victoria rushed to the door only to see the taillights of his car fading into the dusk.

Victoria shut the door; tears flowing freely down her cheeks. Slowly, she made her way up the staircase, forgetting about the started dinner in the kitchen. She walked to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed.

Her fingers traced the cover of their bed to rest upon a neglected jacket of Jack's. Solemnly, Victoria wrapped herself in it and buried her face inside the collar. She could still smell the faint perfume of his cologne on it. The sent made her sick with worry and grief.

If she knew it would have come to this, she never would have agreed on Jack's deal with Thorne. It was the medication. She could have stopped all this if that pill had not deadened the instincts she was born with.

It was too late now. The deal was done and Jack now worked for Thorne as a hit man. The fact tore at her heart every time Jack came home from another late night. Another life gone or another safe missing along with a part of the old Jack she had known for so long.

He tried to hide her from that and keep a light-hearted face. However, he was distant and cold more and more, and angry too. Never angry with her, but she could find him pacing the living room at night, muttering to himself.

"Victoria?" came Jack's voice weakly from the foyer.

Victoria sat bolt upright and glanced at the clock. It was nearly one in the morning, five hours since Jack had left. She sprung from the bed. Perhaps her instincts were wrong, after all he had returned home.

She raced to the top of the staircase, a smile on her face and eyes still red with tears. Stopping at the flight of steps, she looked eagerly down at he love. Her face dropped in horror.

Jack was leaning against the front door. His hat and trench coat gone and his suit was soaking wet. It was his face that was wrong. A horrid green had replaced his handsome red hair and his tan skin was a chalk white. The most gruesome feature was a distorted ruby red smile that stretched his lips across his face.

"Victoria?" Jack looked up at her a panicked confusion in his blood shot eyes.

Victoria's baby-blue eyes were wide and her hand flew up to block a scream as she ran for the bedroom.

"Victoria!" Jack yelled, suddenly angry at her foolishly running away from him. He ran up the steps and to the bedroom door to find it locked. "Victoria!" he banged on the door, "Open this door, now!"

Victoria's breath came in sharp gasps from the other side of the door. She had slumped down to the floor. Behind her back, she could feel Jack pounding on the door. What had happened to him?

The blows had stopped and Victoria could here footsteps in the hall. The doorknob of the bathroom twisted and flung open revealing Jack, his face even more distorted with rage.

Victoria gasped. Eyes large, she scrambled to her feet and out the door behind her.

"Filthy little brat!" Jack sprinted after her. "Come back here!" He quickly caught her retreating wrist and swung her around to face him.

"Get off!" Victoria screamed and flung him away with a newfound strength. She took off down the stairs.

Jack was hurtled into a mirror that stood in the hall. It shattered into pieces around him. For a moment, he sat holding his head, when his eyes caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. A grinning clown face with black-circled eyes and green hair looked back at him.

Jack's smile widened and he let out a low crazed chuckle. He pulled himself to his feet and continued down the stairs, snickering to himself.

Victoria stood at the bottom of the steps, a long-barreled silver pistol in her hands. Her eyes gazed in terror at Jack, who was slowly stepping down the stairs and laughing incessantly. Her finger rested on the rigger and the gun was aimed shakily at her fiancé.

Jack looked at her from under his white hand that held his brow. Insanity flickered behind his eyes as he advanced on Victoria. His wide grin grew. "Go ahead, V," he whispered wickedly, "Shoot me…"

Victoria's arms did not move. In her hands, the gun shook. Her breath came in short pants.

Jack was inches away from the end of the barrel, a triumphant smile spread broad across his ruby stained lips. "You don't have it in you, V. You couldn't kill anything…"

Victoria's arms faltered, letting the gun drop a few inches. He was right. She could not shoot him.

Before she could run, Jack grabbed the barrel of the gun and flung it away from him. He seized hold of Victoria's arm and pulled her against him, his arm hold her tightly against him. His other hand had overlapped Victoria's on the gun's handle and was now aimed right under her chin.

"You know, V," Jack whispered in her ear. "Being dead makes life so much more fun!" He let out a maniacal laugh.

Victoria shrieked and she heard the gunfire. Jack was thrown backwards against the stairs and the smoking gun fell to the floor. In her panic her mind had thrown back Jack in a last burst of adrenaline. Without a glance back, Victoria ran out the door and dove into Jack's car, which started on its own accord and began to drive off.

"Wench!" Jack screamed from the door and fired at the car. The bullet shattered the rear window in an attempt at Victoria. He fired until the gun ran out of bullets and the car continued away, into Gotham.

The car stopped outside an apartment complex in the heart of Gotham. Victoria stumbled out of the car and into the building. She used the elevator as a moment to collect her breath, slumping to its floor as it ascended to the penthouse.

This was the end, the end of the late nights, the end of Rupert Thorne's calls and the end of Jack Napier. The man that held the gun on her was insane and dangerous. There was no way she would go back. To her, Jack was dead.

The lift doors opened and Victoria staggered to a penthouse door. She did not bother with the keys but touched the keyhole that sprung open. Exhausted she pushed open the door.

Inside, the apartment was black. Victoria did not even think to turn on a light. Instead, she fell down on the bed, too drained even for tears.

Victoria unlocked the door to her apartment and entered with a bag of groceries in one arm and her key and purse in the other. It had been two days since Valentine's Day and Victoria had put all of her effort into settling into her new home.

She had not dared to return to the Star Manor or even her job at Wayne Tech Labs. She had called in sick that day but knew that she would have to return to work. The Manor, on the other hand, would have to wait.

Victoria let out a long sigh and began to unpack her groceries in the kitchen. With a click of the remote she turned on the television in the living area.

"Today," Summer Gleeson's voice came from the television into the open kitchen, "In headline news, the unexplained break-in of Wayne Tech Labs has left security guards in horrific states."

Victoria stopped her sorting at the name "Wayne Tech Labs". She leaned over the counter to get a better look at the television in the other room. Her brow was furrowed and a jar of peanut butter was in her hand.

"This was the scene earlier today," The picture flipped to a man being carried out on a gurney, a huge smile across his face and eyes bulging. The man was laughing hysterically and had to be strapped down.

Victoria pulled a spoon out of a drawer and started to eat the peanut butter out of the jar in her hand. Her eyes were fixed intently on the television screen.

The face of Summer reappeared on screen. "Though the labs were broken into, the technicians insist that nothing was stolen. The strange occurrence was marked only by a small steel playing card at the scene." The screen showed a Joker playing card.

Victoria set the peanut butter aside and pulled a small medicine bottle out of her purse. Calmly, she filled a glass with water from the sink.

"-This, along with the guards, has authorities calling this new madman, the Joker."

Victoria raised the glass in a silent toast toward the television. Placing a pill in her mouth, she downed the water.

Vampyra gazed out over the moonlit night. Things had changed so much since then. Now she was on the other side of the padded sell and what she had judged as insanity was just clean fun. Looking out, she wondered where her Jack "Joker" Napier was.


	3. The Ace Chemical Factory

**Chapter 3: The Ace Chemical Factory**

The Joker lounged in the den of the Star Manor. He was silently shuffling a deck of trick cards. He was also well aware of what day it was.

Joker had never cared for Valentine's Day. There were too many bad memories that came flooding back. He did not regret his new life, in fact he loved it, but the losses to reach his freedom were scars that did not fade.

Jack Napier drove away from the Star Manor, a confident grin on his face. The cold wind blew on his face from the open window. He loved this feeling of excitement that ran through his veins with every new job. He was free. Here, there were no rules to hold him back. Daringly, he pressed the gas pedal to the floor and let the car speed to over a hundred miles.

Victoria would not understand. She would never even risk doing something illegal. So how could she comprehend the thrill of the chase, the heist, and the hit? The thought of giving up his new position in the Gotham underworld was hard to bar, but then so was the thought of Victoria leaving him.

So Jack kept up the charade, asking Thorne to call and give him jobs. Victoria would have no idea that his debt to Thorne was paid long ago. Thus, his high society life of academics was preserved along with his already renowned name in crime. It was the prefect alibi.

The car drove through the deserted streets of Gotham. Nights were early in the city. Crime ran everywhere and with it, the Batman

Nobody knew who or what the Batman was, or even whose side he was on. It did not matter where the job was the Bat was there. He was there before the cops, but was he one of them or another vigilante kook that wanted the glory for himself. Jack ruled out the latter, the Bat was obviously on the police's side. He could gather that from his previous encounters with him.

Jack parked the car in a back alley behind a large factory building. Cool and collected, he emerged from the car and spotted a shady group of trench coats down the alley. He surveyed the alley and the neighboring buildings. He was in the narrows of the city by the riverfront, on of the most dangerous areas in Gotham.

"Jack," a man from the group turned o him as Jack approached. He had a dark angular face.

"What's the plan?" Jack asked in a low voice, surveying the service door the group stood next to.

"Get in, lift that safe, whack a few scientists and doctors and get out. Quick and clean…" the man said with a grin.

"Right," Jack's face was straight and serious, now it was time to work. He pulled out his gun, silencer already attached. "What are we waiting for then?" He gave an evil smirk.

A large goon kicked the already picked door and the thugs stormed into the Ace Chemical Factory. The sounds of machine guns rang off the huge chemical vats that filled the factory. Limp bodies of chemists and technicians fell into pools of toxic liquid.

Jack calmly stepped around the dead figures and acid pools that spilled out from punctured vats. His face was turned upwards to the walkways above the vats, searching for any survivors. He knew if anyone escaped it would be disastrous.

A small explosion came from a ground floor office as the others blew the safe and began to empty it of any cash of valuable documents that could be sold on the black market.

"Jack!" The man with the angular face hissed, a heavy satchel over his shoulder. "Let's get outta here!"

Jack paused. It seemed too easy.

"The Batman!" echoed a cry from somewhere in the factory.

The running of footsteps came from overhead and Jack looked up. A white lab coat was running along a walkway above. "Go!" Jack yelled over his shoulder and started to climb the nearest ladder up to the walkway.

Below, the thugs made off toward the exit with their loot. The emergency door slammed on their faces and a burst of black smoke surrounded them. Coughing, one by one, they all fell to the floor unconscious.

Jack shot a glance to the commotion below and growled in frustration. He flung himself onto the causeway and took off down it, away from the exit.

In front of him, he could see the white jacket. Gun in hand Jack gave a triumphant smile. It was the thrill of the hunt that carried him closer and closer.

The coat stumbled and fell. Hearing the clamor of footsteps behind, the man turned over to face his assailant.

Jack slowed, advancing on the man. He was old with graying hair and round thick spectacles. His face streaked with sweat and white with fear. "Please don't," the man begged, pinned between a wall of factory controls and the end of the pathway. "I have a family, a grandson…"

"Awe," Jack faked a mock concern. "Too bad. I guess the jokes on them…"

The gun fired and a black mass swung down between Jack and the chemist. The gun was knocked from his hand and fell into a vat of acid below.

"Bad timing, Bats!" Jack hissed, opposite the infamous Batman. Between them lay the dead man, bullet hole in his chest.

"Napier…" Batman said in a dark voice, white eyes narrowed.

Jack was grinning insanely, an eye glow in his eyes. "Why don't you just have a blast!" Jack pulled a lever and a burst of steam hit the mask crusader square in the face.

Jack laughed and began to pull an assortment of lever and switches. Immediately alarms began to sound and the vats beneath started to drain and boil.

The burst of steam had ceased and Batman took off down the walkway after Jack. A toss of a Batarang hit the retreating Jack brining him to the steel grated floor of the causeway.

Jack rolled onto his back, a snarl across his face.

"Give it up, Napier…" Batman closed the gap between them.

Jack looked from the Dark Knight to the drainage vat under him. If he was caught it would be the end of his double life, no more high society, no more Victoria. "Sorry Bats, but I always have a Joker up my sleeve!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Jack rolled off the platform. He fell into the nearly empty vat and was swept down the drainage pipe.

What happened afterwards was a blur. Jack remembered being washed up on the riverside next to a drainage pipe from the Ace Chemical Factory. His head spun and his body was a tingling numb. His trench coat and hat were lost in the current.

Jack lurched to his feet. His skin burned faintly and his limbs were weak. Other than a few bumps and bruises he was fine.

A huge grin came across Jack's face. He had done it. He had outwitted the Batman and lived to tell the underworld without twenty-five to life. He let out an uncontrollable laugh of victory that sent a spike through his skull.

Still laughing, Jack clutched his head and began to stumble away from the river. The itching feeling of being burned crawled over his skin, but his head was too dazed to even notice.

The car was still in the alley adjacent to the factory. Jack slouched in the driver's seat, gasping for breath and chuckling, unable to suppress his glee. Jack turned the key and drove off toward home.

The shock and adrenaline of the incident was beginning to wane. Lead weights replaced his arms and legs and he sank back against the cushioned seat. His smile faded but it felt as if he was still grinning. Perhaps it was just that his cheeks were sore from laughter.

The car pulled into the driveway of the Star Manor and Jack stopped at the front door. Slowly, he stepped up to the front door and pushed it open. "Victoria?"


End file.
